If you live within a few blocks of my home, you might in the evening between the hours of 18:30 and 20:30 hear renditions of famous songs and new compositions of my own work emanating through the neighborhood as I strum the strings of my Yamaha guitar. Wednesday night, someone invited me to come to a "Guitar Hero" party this weekend, to whit I answered I needed time to consider their offer.
Having now spoken with my sister who's played Guitar Hero, I opted to decline the kind invitation. Until this last fall when Guitar Hero III came out, I'd never even heard of this game, and until that same time, I'd never really tried to play the guitar in earnest, although I had plucked out some tablature during my second sojourn in Europe 1998-2000. My sister told me that, since I play decently on a real guitar, she felt I would not enjoy it.
I saw this morning the following Gearlog warning about those who play this popular game. When I saw the pictures of the implements used to play the game, I understood why my sister felt the way she does. I am by no means a professional guitarist or a musician, but at the eve of yesteryear, I sought something to do in my free time to stimulate my mind and occupy my time constructively since I'm single. I lighted on the guitar, and these tools are no guitars.
I started playing the guitar for real (chords and tablature) Christmas Day 2007. Since then, I've written four songs and learned dozens more, including a score of complicated chords which my sister termed "ambitious". For my education in the guitar, I turned to online work from other aspirants who play real guitars, and wrote a few of my own where they left me disappointed.
Perhaps playing the guitar comes easy to me because I played clarinet and piano as a teenager and because I sing tenor. Music appeals to me due to the rhythmic and mathematical progressions, so I enjoy it. For less or the same money as Guitar Hero and the accouterments required to play, you can own and play your own acoustic guitar. You may never write songs that make money and bring you fame, but you can still woo girls with a real guitar 10-20 years from now, play at reunions, or enjoy the instrument whereas nobody will care in 2010 if you own a PS3 or beat GH3.
For all the time I spent mocking garage bands in high school, I rethought the value thereof. Instead of being couped up inside glaring at a cathode ray tube or projection monitor, they were outside making something. The association between individuals, the entrepreneurial spirit, the interactions arising from collaborative effort outshine any value that beating a hard GH3 level has. Some of those people even managed to become famous. More than that, it gave them a place to belong and allowed them a creative venue with which to improve upon their time. Some parents may disagree on account of the noise or expense, but who can doubt that they used the instruments and perhaps gained an appreciation for tonality, tempo, crescendo, and harmony that cannot be learned any other way except through interpersonal relations.
Before you argue about the "interaction" of video gaming, consider the following. Video gaming generally involves interaction through the game. Would you interact with those people if they didn't have the latest gaming system? I shudder to think of all the hours I spent watching other people play. I confess that we went to those homes because those people had an NES or Sega Genesis, not because we genuinely found them affable. In fact, I doubt I'd interact with them at all for lack of those gaming systems. They knew it too, and they treated us accordingly. Secondly, gaming creates interactions that are foreign to who we really are. I remember the first time I played Street Fighter II where upon losing a bout to my brother I felt feelings of unmitigated bellicose nature arise within me. They were foreign to my normal personae, and without that game, I don't think I would have ever felt that way about anyone or anything. Those are not positive rivalries created by video games.
Instead of tapping away at keys on a fake guitar, you could make your own music and have something to show for your time that you created. Free software like audacity or garageband if you own a Mac allow people to author and finish their own work. Nothing felt as good as when I received back the Copyright information from the Library of Congress for my first book. Nobody can take that away from me, but someone can always come along and beat your high score.
Virtual reality threatens to take away from us our true life. From virtual dating to Neopets to garageband ad infinitum, we slowly surrender ourselves to a world of fantasy. We are becoming the matrix. There is no spoon, and soon there may be no you because you have squandered your time.
If you hear guitar music and roll your eyes thinking it's just some more punk kids, remember that some people still do play real instruments. Should that turn out to be what you hear, thank your lucky stars that they're improving upon their time.
Having now spoken with my sister who's played Guitar Hero, I opted to decline the kind invitation. Until this last fall when Guitar Hero III came out, I'd never even heard of this game, and until that same time, I'd never really tried to play the guitar in earnest, although I had plucked out some tablature during my second sojourn in Europe 1998-2000. My sister told me that, since I play decently on a real guitar, she felt I would not enjoy it.
I saw this morning the following Gearlog warning about those who play this popular game. When I saw the pictures of the implements used to play the game, I understood why my sister felt the way she does. I am by no means a professional guitarist or a musician, but at the eve of yesteryear, I sought something to do in my free time to stimulate my mind and occupy my time constructively since I'm single. I lighted on the guitar, and these tools are no guitars.
I started playing the guitar for real (chords and tablature) Christmas Day 2007. Since then, I've written four songs and learned dozens more, including a score of complicated chords which my sister termed "ambitious". For my education in the guitar, I turned to online work from other aspirants who play real guitars, and wrote a few of my own where they left me disappointed.
Perhaps playing the guitar comes easy to me because I played clarinet and piano as a teenager and because I sing tenor. Music appeals to me due to the rhythmic and mathematical progressions, so I enjoy it. For less or the same money as Guitar Hero and the accouterments required to play, you can own and play your own acoustic guitar. You may never write songs that make money and bring you fame, but you can still woo girls with a real guitar 10-20 years from now, play at reunions, or enjoy the instrument whereas nobody will care in 2010 if you own a PS3 or beat GH3.
For all the time I spent mocking garage bands in high school, I rethought the value thereof. Instead of being couped up inside glaring at a cathode ray tube or projection monitor, they were outside making something. The association between individuals, the entrepreneurial spirit, the interactions arising from collaborative effort outshine any value that beating a hard GH3 level has. Some of those people even managed to become famous. More than that, it gave them a place to belong and allowed them a creative venue with which to improve upon their time. Some parents may disagree on account of the noise or expense, but who can doubt that they used the instruments and perhaps gained an appreciation for tonality, tempo, crescendo, and harmony that cannot be learned any other way except through interpersonal relations.
Before you argue about the "interaction" of video gaming, consider the following. Video gaming generally involves interaction through the game. Would you interact with those people if they didn't have the latest gaming system? I shudder to think of all the hours I spent watching other people play. I confess that we went to those homes because those people had an NES or Sega Genesis, not because we genuinely found them affable. In fact, I doubt I'd interact with them at all for lack of those gaming systems. They knew it too, and they treated us accordingly. Secondly, gaming creates interactions that are foreign to who we really are. I remember the first time I played Street Fighter II where upon losing a bout to my brother I felt feelings of unmitigated bellicose nature arise within me. They were foreign to my normal personae, and without that game, I don't think I would have ever felt that way about anyone or anything. Those are not positive rivalries created by video games.
Instead of tapping away at keys on a fake guitar, you could make your own music and have something to show for your time that you created. Free software like audacity or garageband if you own a Mac allow people to author and finish their own work. Nothing felt as good as when I received back the Copyright information from the Library of Congress for my first book. Nobody can take that away from me, but someone can always come along and beat your high score.
Virtual reality threatens to take away from us our true life. From virtual dating to Neopets to garageband ad infinitum, we slowly surrender ourselves to a world of fantasy. We are becoming the matrix. There is no spoon, and soon there may be no you because you have squandered your time.
If you hear guitar music and roll your eyes thinking it's just some more punk kids, remember that some people still do play real instruments. Should that turn out to be what you hear, thank your lucky stars that they're improving upon their time.
No comments:
Post a Comment